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South America 2024

listopada 2024 - stycznia 2025
  • Gavin Wilson
Avoiding extortionate electricity charges in the UK by travelling through South America during the winter of 2024-25. Czytaj więcej
  • Gavin Wilson

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024

    Setting off from Brompton 6th Nov.

    6 listopada 2024, Anglia ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    And he's off again.
    After a hearty breakfast of grapefruit, porridge, coffee and the usual tablets, the bus to Northallerton is calling. Then the train to Manchester Airport (ugh.) for the flight to Heathrow and on to Bogota, Columbia.
    Most likely, I won't get a chance to update this until I land in South America - hopefully Bogota.
    We'll see.
    Fingers crossed.
    This could get edgy...     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024
    It had potato, yes but I think there was eel in there. Take that Rick Stein.1

    Bogota, 7th November 2024

    7 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ 🌩️ 18 °C

    My first full day in Bogota was a tiring, beflummuxing experience. True enough, I hadn't gone on an intensive 'learn all you can in a day/Spanish for idiots' course. It wouldn't have sunk in anyway.
    Arriving early in the morning didn't help. I grabbed a few hours sleep in between watching films on the plane - the new 'Dune', and 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. Both good in very different ways. I'd read the first two Dune books back in the '70s. The first one good, the second not very.
    Bogota is big on graffiti, it has to be said. It seems like every flat surface is covered in garish scrawls, and some wobbly ones too. The artistic merit of said scrawls is, shall we say, dubious or a matter of taste.
    The traffic is bad, bad. I'm thinking of wearing my Covid mask tomorrow.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024

    Bogota 8th November 2024

    8 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Sadly for me, everywhere including the bus stops seems to be a tidy walk away. I'd decided to recce the route from my digs to 'Terminal Salitre' - for the bus to Medellin. Eventually I got there and through trial and lots of errors I bought my ticket for 11th Nov.
    The traffic here! How do they cope? It must be all they know 'coz it feels like madness. The buses (the best way to get around I'm told) are completely confusing so that I'll never work them out as long as I'm here. Asking a friendly stranger is the only answer.
    With a lot of help from a kind young lady, and a lot more faffing and fuffing, I managed to get my weary bones to the 'Museo del Oro'. The Gold Museum deep in the heart of the old town where I can even see the cable car high in the mist.
    The museum is actually very good. It has the glitziest gift shop of anywhere I've ever been. Well run, photography no problem and it's even free for an old chap like me.
    There were plenty of 'characters' knocking about in this part of town. Eccentricity seems to be valued and supported; from rappers and hawkers on the buses to 'social misfits' in the streets who actually fit in nicely, thank you very much.
    Blimey, I keep getting lost. It's lost its charm now. After a glass of fizzy beer in the Irish pub across the road, I'm glad to get back to my bedroom.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024
    Obligatory shot of man 'resting' on the late bus - one more for my collection.

    Still in Bogota, 9th Nov. 2024

    9 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    I was determined to give my aching feet a rest today. Yes I'm getting a tad more familiar with the illogical and confusing bus system, but it's hard work and seems to always involve a lot of walking between stations and where I want to be.
    My plan was to 'nip' to the main bus station again to book my bus ticket for tomorrow to Villa de Layvas (looks interesting - done). Then I also planned to do the cable car trip.
    Oh well, the best laid plans etc. The sky turned grey, then black, then the rain came down in torrents.
    So I decided to divert to 'Distrito Graffiti' / Graffiti District. At least the rain slackened off and the light held. It's manly an industrial area with huge factory walls for the 'graffittists' to let rip. Impressive.
    This was today's highlight, then back on the Transmilenio system for the return journey to my bed for the remaining two nights.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024
    1

    Villa de Leyva, Colombia 10th Nov. 2024

    10 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    I decided to get out of Bogota today and travel to a small town with a big reputation locally, Villa de Leyva. It's got historical significance and seemed to be a 'must see' place near-ish to Bogota.
    It was well worth the effort.
    I had to get an early bus from the main terminus in Bogota. The bus was typically cramped, the ride was horrendous - pot-holes, crazy driving on dodgy road and around land slips after the rains. But we got there in more or less one piece.
    Villa de Leyva is quite small but amazing well-preserved. A date on a key-stone on the bridge over the main stream was carved 1572.
    To my mind, the town shares a resemblance to Trinidad de Cuba - if you've ever been there. The streets are 'paved' with large stones that keep the traffic to a necessarily slow speed.
    I really liked the place: touristy but not spoiled, visually interesting in the stormy weather.
    The journey back was much smoother, quicker and less bumpy if anything. I got chatting to a German man in the bus station. He's an airline pilot for Lufthansa taking some time out between flights. We had a really interesting natter that made the miles flow by quicker.
    Back in Bogota, the dark, dismal and rainy weather was just as bad as yesterday, so I decided to turn in for the night rather than visit the local bar that seemed packed with people spilling out onto the street around some 'stand-up' tables.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024
    1
    1

    Last Day in Bogota, 11th Nov.

    11 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    As it's my last day in Bogota before travelling up to Medellin, here are a few observations/thoughts:
    The Bogota Columbians appear to inordinately like graffiti, bread, dogs not cats, and avoiding silence whenever in public places. The buses frequently get invaded by people selling a sob story and things such as little sweets, or providing 'entertainment' with karaoke machines to demonstrate their emerging music and performing skills.
    And as for the food... Most things seems to have been cooked in oil. Well, they're an oil-rich country after all.
    The majority of people have a curiously international scruffy-urban dress sense. Think sports casual and slashed jeans, trainers and hardly ever shoes.
    And although I've already said it; they really, really can't have enough graffiti on everything.
    Today I was mainly getting 'funiculared'. The weather was so miserable (another downpour was always on the cards) that I had to find something slightly indoors to do. Either the cable car or funicular railway up to the top of hillside Monserrate. The queue was much shorter for the funicular so I left the 'cable car experience' until Medellin.
    It was pretty good - even the clouds opened a bit to let some sun shine on the drenched punters.
    Back at my digs later I'd left plenty of time to grab my rucksack, take the shot of a couple have dinner in the back of their VW Beetle, and head for the bus Terminus.
    That was Bogota then.
    Onwards!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024

    Medellin, 12th November

    12 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    How people arrive in Medellin is already an interesting experience. The bus ride is a long un, but time to catch up on sleep at least.
    As it's located almost completely in a valley, Medellin looks geographically contained but spreading up the surrounding hillsides (mainly favelas).
    After a short walk with the rucksack I managed to find my digs for the next couple of nights without much asking of kind people on the way. How should I describe the area? Shabby chic with most of the chic worn away through use? Some might call Medellin 'trendy'. It often gets voted one of the most 'liveable' cities in the world. 'Quality of life' seems to come high on the ratings. All this is a bit overstated - Medellin's improvements post-Escobar are amazing, but a lot of districts have a grubbiness that's hard to cover up with trendy coffee shops and the like. On balance though, Medellin's absolutely fascinating and much more enjoyable to be in than Bogota.
    I did a bit of exploring around the local area - got refused entrance to Museo Antioquia to see paintings by Fernando Botero (maybe tomorrow), and made it out with a struggle to 'Comuna 13' that the guidebooks recommend. Think a less American-plastic version of Haight Ashbury in San Fransisco. The place doesn't seem like it can work, but it gets ridiculously crowded anyway. Having a cable car station contributes to the business.
    Cheap? You bet.
    An unlimited journey whilst on the bus / tram systems in either Bogota or Medellin: c. 35 pence. A dodgy meal in an average restaurant: c. £1.50.
    Once again, the food was a bit 'stodgy', but I suspect if you use the restaurants the American tourists go to, things might be different. I ate with the locals and it was fine.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024

    Medellin to Guatape rtn. 13th Nov.

    13 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Today was a day for getting out of the city and seeing another bit of Colombia. I got a 10am bus to Guatape, which gets good reviews as somewhere worth visiting.
    The journey was another mad dash over pot-holed roads in a bus that must surely need some suspension work. We wen via a really nice looking town called La Piedra, picking up random passengers as usual along the way.
    Guatape.
    The central attraction is a granite rock outcrop that can be climbed up by a staircase. I did the first 300 (counted 'em) steps to the base with all the touristy shops and ticket booths. Apparently, there's 708 steps up the zig-zag staircase to be tackled. I asked a coming down, and they told me it was worth the climb but just for the view.
    When the afternoon black clouds started rolling in as usual, I changed my return bus ticket an caught an earlier one back to Medellin.
    I have to admit it, even walking around at night, Colombia seems pretty safe to me. Dinner at a restaurant local to my digs (both not bad this time), and it was just about time to turn in.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024

    Last day in Medellin, 14th Nov.

    14 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today was both my last day in Medellin, and an overnight travel day to Cartagena. There were a couple of things left to do in Medellin - before I could 'tick it off'.
    The cable cars that form part of Medellin's public transport system are a cracking idea. They allow people living in both the poorer areas (and the favelas) to easily get around town. It was a typically grey day, but the ride was well worth the approx. 50 pence it cost.
    Later in the afternoon, I went hunting for a plaza that the people in Medellin are quite proud of: A major artistic figure to come out of the city is Fernando Botera. His paintings and sculptures of comically large human figures (real and imagined) are apparently influential and lauded. I thought of a contemporary British artist, Beryl Cook. I'm not sure who might have influenced who, but Beryl died before Fernando.
    That's it. The day was almost over: Food at a nice cheap cafe, pastries and a coffee in another small cafe with a couple called Fransisco and Tatiana, and a last ice cream. A mad dash back to my digs to collect my rucksack, and a walk to the bus terminus - just dodging the afternoon rain (again).     Czytaj więcej

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  • Gavin WilsonPodróżnikSouth America 2024

    Cartagena, 15th Nov

    15 listopada 2024, Kolumbia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    I knew, I knew it. It was always in my mind that I was going to like Cartagena (pronounced 'cart ah hay nah' - I'm learning). After the smog and bustle of Bogota and Medellin (good fun though it was), I was looking forward to some all-day sunshine, clean air, and the breeze off the Caribbean Sea.
    The bus from Medellin got me in at a sensible hour, in good time to find the local bus into the city centre and my digs for the next week, at least. It's not a bad place, scruffy but really well located.
    Looking around Cartagena for the first few hours, it looks just my kind've place. There are almost as many 50 ft catamarans to be seen in the harbour/marina areas as in Tivat, so I feel right at home. The people are. friendly, the air is clean-ish, and apart from the predictable rubbish in the water the city seems to be more comfortable and generally prosperous than the average Colombian city. It's great and I'm enjoying it already.
    I took a stroll down to the ticket booths for the boat trips to Islas de Rosario for the palm-fringed Caribbean beaches etc etc. These islands get so 'hyped' I just had to find out the options. Sadly, the reviews on Trustpilot are almost universally negative - the most common word used was 'ripoff'. But I might have a cunning plan B. The manager in my hostel is organising a small trip to one of the other beaches, and I might get out to the other islands even yet.     Czytaj więcej

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